The phrase ‘public transportation’ most likely calls to mind images of obnoxious crowds, anxiety about being late, and a breeding ground for the next plague. Thinking of my daily commute on the DC metro calls to mind these images, but it also makes me think of a sacred space, a place for quiet reflection. These two different accounts of the same phenomena create a unique experience that can be further explained through phenomenological discourse through the descriptive critical method.
This morning, I’m probably running late because of who I am as a person, and after anxiously checking the digital display every 30 seconds, finally getting on the trail will be a relief. In the panicked moments before it arrives, my thoughts are all about the …show more content…
Intuition is not my innate knowledge that the metro consists of more than one car, but rather a means of presentation through my intentionality that establishes if my intention will be fulfilled. While I intend the part of the train that I can see, I simultaneously cointend the parts of the train I can’t see; I experience an absence alongside of every presence. Prior to my train moving up on the platform, the unseen cars are an empty intention because they are not physically at hand for me to see. As my train pulls up, my intuition provides evidence that fulfills my intention through perception and I can now see the rest of the train. In conscious acts other than perception, empty and fulfilled intentions vary. For example, if I’m explaining to my boss that I was late due to technical problems on the train, my intention of the train is still empty because it isn’t present, however, the emptiness does not make my words empty. Rather, through the empty intention, they are signifying something that has its own intelligible …show more content…
When the train moves up the platform, I eagerly make my way to an empty car, thinking it highly unusual for the morning rush hour. I settle in a seat and scan the car, wondering why it’s so empty when the rest of the train is crowded. That is when I notice a puddle of puke in the middle of the isle. My perception shatters as I realize I’m riding with someone’s undigested breakfast. Faster than projectile vomit I realize the correlation between the car’s emptiness and the unpleasant puddle. My intuition expands to take in the whole, then a part of that whole, and view the two in relation to each other. This is the function of our categorical intuition, which allows us to attend to a detail of a whole and structure the object by categories so we can make judgments. I can then make a statement such as ‘this car is disgusting’, and move to a different, more crowded car as soon as
This morning, I’m probably running late because of who I am as a person, and after anxiously checking the digital display every 30 seconds, finally getting on the trail will be a relief. In the panicked moments before it arrives, my thoughts are all about the …show more content…
Intuition is not my innate knowledge that the metro consists of more than one car, but rather a means of presentation through my intentionality that establishes if my intention will be fulfilled. While I intend the part of the train that I can see, I simultaneously cointend the parts of the train I can’t see; I experience an absence alongside of every presence. Prior to my train moving up on the platform, the unseen cars are an empty intention because they are not physically at hand for me to see. As my train pulls up, my intuition provides evidence that fulfills my intention through perception and I can now see the rest of the train. In conscious acts other than perception, empty and fulfilled intentions vary. For example, if I’m explaining to my boss that I was late due to technical problems on the train, my intention of the train is still empty because it isn’t present, however, the emptiness does not make my words empty. Rather, through the empty intention, they are signifying something that has its own intelligible …show more content…
When the train moves up the platform, I eagerly make my way to an empty car, thinking it highly unusual for the morning rush hour. I settle in a seat and scan the car, wondering why it’s so empty when the rest of the train is crowded. That is when I notice a puddle of puke in the middle of the isle. My perception shatters as I realize I’m riding with someone’s undigested breakfast. Faster than projectile vomit I realize the correlation between the car’s emptiness and the unpleasant puddle. My intuition expands to take in the whole, then a part of that whole, and view the two in relation to each other. This is the function of our categorical intuition, which allows us to attend to a detail of a whole and structure the object by categories so we can make judgments. I can then make a statement such as ‘this car is disgusting’, and move to a different, more crowded car as soon as